ART BTEC 2015 intake!

Friday, 12 December 2014

OK, so you should all be well underway with garment construction by now. Make sure you have the resources you need: a garment/accessory to recycle and as many multiples of your object as your garment requires. You may need other things such as additional fabrics, dyes, zips, clasps, velcro etc.If you have an ambitious plan it is essential to work in a focussed way to resolve it properly.Any finishing work to your illustration research/design development needs to be completed as self-directed study now.Thinking a little way ahead you should start giving some thought to your Photoshoot - you should be aiming for a professional approach with this that results in great imagery for your portfolio.Consider who will model for you (or who will take photos if you are modelling your own garment), where you will base the shoot (what will complement the garment?), will you need props/make up?

In order for you to plan and execute effective final Photoshoots for your garments it will be helpful to make yourself aware of the work of some top Fashion photographers.When looking at these Photographers work you should look for the following things and comment on them:

Use of location/studio - how does this relate to enhance the garment?

Use of make up.

Use of props.

Use of the model(s) consider things like body posture, what mood is the photographer trying to create?

Use of lighting - natural/artificial? harsh/gentle?

Composition/cropping - how is the figure placed within the image?

Use of post production - has the image been manipulated via software such as PhotoShop to achieve the final result, how subtle/dramatic is this process?

You should look at 2 of the following photographers and provide a little background biographical information before analysing at least 3 images by each one in detail (2 pages per photographer, print out decent size reproductions of their work).

Friday, 21 November 2014

OK, to ensure you are all crystal clear about what you should be doing over the next couple of days. What we want you to achieve is 4 beautiful responses to your 2 chosen illustrators using your own photos as the basis for these illustrations.

So you will need:

A collection of images by your 2 illustrators - enough to get a really good feel for their style, technique and media.

A range of photographs from the figure - try to get some good dynamic poses that have the feel of Fashion illustration/photography. If you are unsure what you are aiming for then flick through a few copies of Vogue and look at the fashion shoots and advertising images.

The appropriate media to respond to your illustrators, identify what they use and do likewise. If their work is produced digitally then don't try replicating it by hand.

Once you have all these things you need to really focus on making some impressive responses that capture the feel of each Artist. Use the lightbox to start your drawings from your own photos off if it helps. You might want to use software to extend and stretch the figures in your photos and achieve something closer to the classic fashion illustration proportions (which are quite different to the real proportions of the human body).Here's an example of what I'm talking about:

Try to choose illustrators that have contrasting approaches and use different media, as you are going to have to respond visually to these illustrators BE REALISTIC and select styles you are confident you can reproduce effectively. For each selected illustrator print out 3/4 reproductions of their work at a reasonable size (A5ish).

You then need to provide some analysis of each illustrator. Find out what you can about them - where they trained, who they have worked for. Most importantly analyse the images you have chosen, identify what media have been used and discuss technique (expressive or controlled?), composition, use of colour. Give your personal opinion on the work, but ensure you give reasons for the views you express.

Present the work thoughtfully (2 A3 pages per illustrator), think about layout and text/titles etc.

Developing your own illustration work involves a number of stages:

Using body templates we have distributed come up with a quick range of 6-8 design proposals for your garment (consider conversations you have had with your team when designing - e.g. if you have decided on theme colours or shapes then use them in your proposals).

Do the Fashion Illustrator research as detailed above.

Take a range of dynamic photos from the figure. Using a studio environment for this will be advantageous (either book the photography spaces in the Stevens block or at least use the booth and lights in the Art Department). Look at Fashion shoots and advertisements to get ideas about suitable poses, enter into the spirit of it and avoid "wooden" poses.

Using your own photos as a basis produce two Fashion illustrations in the style of each Fashion Illustrator you have researched (4 images in all), make sure you use the most appropriate media. Take time over this and aim for some professional looking illustrations. See separate post for an example of this.

Having produced some design proposals and hopefully gained some knowledge about Fashion illustration styles the next stage is to put these two things together:

In the last phase of the illustration you need to create a polished illustration of your final selected Design proposal. Again use your own photographs as the basis for this, but try to create a personal illustrative style. You might integrate elements of the techniques/media of the Artists you studied, but you should be aiming to take this final image further, and create something more personal.

Tuesday, 18 November 2014

You should beaiming for a presentation duration of between 5 and 10 minutes. Each person should contribute to the delivery as well as the creation of the slides. The simplest way to organise this is for each person to speak about their own slide for around 2 minutes. You might choose a more varied delivery though where each person is involved in the delivery of every slide for example.

Stand up and speak clearly.

Face your audience.

Avoid being like a speaking statue, point to things in your slide, use gesture as well as speech to engage your audience.

Don't just read from the Slide - expand and explain the imagery and information that is on screen.

Use cue cards if they help, but don't hide behind them!

Get together and do a practice run through, this will help with transitions between slides and getting overall timing right. Practice is a really important element of delivering a good presentation.

Don't rush your delivery - it is easy to speed up when you are nervous, be aware of this, do your best to relax and slow down.

Try to transmit some enthusiasm for what you are delivering, this is your project, so embrace it!

You might consider using props (e.g. garments, experiments with manipulating your object) in addition to your slides - having something physical to talk about can help give your presentation a focus.

Monday, 17 November 2014

You have the option of preparing your presentation slides either digitally or through manual layouts that you record photographically and then convert into a digital format. If you are making manual Mood boards here are a few steps you can take to make sure that they look good as presentation slides. The first of those are in taking the photographs - make sure they are well lit and that you position your camera above the centre of the image to avoid getting a taper distortion, take several photos to ensure you get images with a good sharp focus.

An example of "taper distortion"

Once you have got decent photographs it is usually possible to enhance them in PhotoShop before you transfer them into your presentation. Here is a raw photographic image followed by an edit of the same photo.

To achieve this I did the following:

Rotated the original image.

Cropped the image to remove unwanted areas.

Adjusted brightness and contrast to give the image more on-screen "zip".

Used the "sharpen more" filter to add crispness to the image.

Created a new layer, made a rectangular selection and filled this with a pale blue colour, then applied the multiply Layer style to this blue box.

Using the text tool added notes (in a font downloaded from www.dafont.com). I then used the move tool to place the text over the blue area.

Finally from the Layer Menu I added a drop shadow to my text from the Layer Style options.

Having done all this I then saved the final image as a jpeg (option available from the dropdown menu when you save in Photoshop). Using jpegs as presentation slides works fine, if you upload .psd PhotoShop documents or high resolution digital photos you may find they slow your presentation down and stop it functioning properly.﻿

Thursday, 13 November 2014

Insight Reflections - Term 1

To kick off the termly review process we ask you to consider how you are progressing, what is going well and what more you can do to improve your performance.

This is meant to be done in relation to the target grades you will find on your Insight page, but due to a glitch in the software regarding BTEC courses these grades have been fixed at an unrealistically high level - especially for this stage of the course.

I am confident many of you will go on to achieve Distinction and Distinction Star grades, but the important thing at present is to focus on how you can advance on your present level of achievement.

So what things should you consider when you are writing your reflections? Say anything you regard as relevant, but make an effort to cover the following points:

Reflect on how the start of the course has been for you? Are you enjoying the work? Do you feel settled at College?

Think about the work we have done this term (Colour, Tools, Alphasemble) and discuss some aspects of your work that you consider to be successful, explain why.

Improving is about identifying areas of your work/approach where change is going to be beneficial. Point out at least 2 aspects of your work you will target to work on in forthcoming projects and explain what practical steps you intend to take to address these areas.

Monday, 10 November 2014

Introductory slide which
shows what the group object is, which garments/fashion items are to be made and
who the members of the group are. This slide should contain lots of good own
photography of both the object and the group members – be sensible.

SLIDE TWO

This slide should give a
flavour of all initial information and findings about the object in question
including its emergence within society. Lots of images about how it has already
been used in fashion and perhaps some information about its general
recyclability – i.e. plastic bottles are now widely used in the production of
fleece material.

SLIDE THREE

An indication of the
processes that may be employed in the exploration of the design potentials of
the object – i.e. photographing the object with a view to making a screen
print, cutting, burning, laser cutting, appliqué, tearing, crushing, layering,
stitching, riveting and so on.

SLIDE FOUR

A consideration of a
common theme(s) which will bring all four garments together as a collection,
and some examples of what a fashion collection is. This should show a number of
examples and range form the sublime to the ridiculous.

Presentations will be scheduled for next Wednesday and Thursday (19th & 20th November).